The Hybrid Theremin, a Marriage of Convenience

It is interesting that continents apart and at the same period a mathematician and a metaphysician probe similar concepts, the hybrid theremin, tube/valves - transistors - IC’s.

Thierry’s team said:

This instrument has a number of interesting features:
• The technique is hybrid (tube / transistor)

I think someone has been peeking at my research, but how you (Thierry) built your theremin in two months is rather baffling. I have spent several years and still keep discovering important principles.

For the new person out there reading, the great advantage of using vacuum tubes in the pitch section is that this is the simplest method of generating that original theremin sound while pitch drift using tube/valves is a non-issue.

I discussed the hybrid topic five years ago with Kevin K in this thread:

The Hybrid ( http://www.thereminworld.com/forum.asp?cmd=p&T=1666&F=1)

I don’t think I was referencing tube/valves back then; I was so new to how theremins worked. All my transistor pitch oscillators during my Radio Shack learning curve days were dry and lifeless. I could never build a serious theremin today without the presence that manifests using tube/valves.

It was tough convincing for me, but I am now a believer that the Hoffman Theremin expresses a wonderful voice that is self enhanced or enchanted while less post processed, not to take away from the expression of the gifted Thereminist. ( ‘

Ok, we know I can’t play a tune but here is my hybrid (tube/valve) authentic theremin "voice" sample as of today.

My Tube/Valve Hybrid ( http://www.oldtemecula.com/theremin/sounds/smooth2.mp3) .mp3 160k


Christopher

Christopher,

I understand that many people are interested in the theremin which I realized for Thorwald but it has been an individual development for him and so I may not publish too many technical details.

What I can say is:
a) It wasn't realized in only two months, but I put together my life-long experience in music and electronics, my almost 4 years of theremin experience, more than a year of discussions with Thorwald in order to understand what he wanted (musicians speak another language than technicians, so I had to translate his wishes into amplitudes, frequencies and tone colors), several months of prototyping (be it with LTSPICE simulations, be it on breadboards, be it by "raping" several theremins I own myself), and finally once the cabinet was available putting the result of my considerations together and optimizing while building it in only 30 working hours, since Thorwald insisted on playing this instrument last Saturday in concert.

b) I did not reinvent the wheel! Although half of the circuit parts are entirely new developments by me, others have been approved concepts for years and have been just modified/matched by me in order to match together.

c) Hybrid concept: Tubes have been used in the place where the voice of the instrument is made - in the wave shaping and audio section, while the oscillators are working with transistors because of better stability.

Et voilà...

Building this instrument has helped me at the same time to increase my experience and knowledge, and I'm sure that some of the results may become soon available to the grand public in another form... ;-)

I'd like one that would instantly make me sound like a Pro. I'd give a kidney and a lung for it, since i need my arms and legs to play...

You can contact me at:

OneCanDream(at)fantasy.com

Speak soon!

Amey, after reading your post I allow to reveal a secret:

The playing style (or technique) of the person who play a theremin has much more impact on the acoustic impression than the theremin's timbre itself. The way of shaping a tone (i.e. the ADSR curve), of transitioning from one tone to another and naturally vibrato creates a "bouquet" of individual harmonics which (in case of an experienced player) gives the tone more character than the instrument's electronically generated harmonics.

There are several interesting examples which substantiate my words:
a) Clara Rockmore playing her own Theremin created something which most of us consider today as the perfect theremin sound. But when Dalit Warshaw (the instrument's actual owner) plays it, it sounds rather nasal and boring.
b) There has been a video on youtube where Lydia Kavina played a Gakken Mini (pitch only toy) theremin in her living room. Although this toy does not deserve the name "Theremin" and its pitch range and sound quality are normally crap, it is possible to identify Lydia's unique playing style and it sounds much better than expected.
c) When I (not a professional thereminist) play on a tVox tour theremin (the instrument which Lydia Kavina, Wilco Botermans, Olesia Rostovskaya, Barbara Buchholz and many more use for concerts), the sound I produce on this instrument is flat and boring.

Conclusion: The instrument is a secondary factor. It should naturally not limit the player is his musical expression, but it's the player who transforms this heterodyning tone generator into a music instrument.

The same thoughts apply to other instruments: A beginner on the violin will still play scratchy and off key on a Stradivari while a professional will play fine on a chinese $50 violin.

So I recommend to work on your own tonal character, which will make you more and more independent from the instrument with the years. Let not the theremin control you - you have to control the theremin!

Thierry said:

[i] The playing style (or technique) of the person who play a theremin has much more impact on the acoustic impression than the theremin's timbre itself. The way of shaping a tone (i.e. the ADSR curve), of transitioning from one tone to another and naturally vibrato creates a "bouquet" of individual harmonics which (in case of an experienced player) gives the tone more character than the instrument's electronically generated harmonics.[/i]


For the new Thereminist I totally disagree, though the statement in itself is fine. How can you not believe that with a beautiful theremin voice, and excellent linearity, the newbie has the best chance of persisting with the intense practice required to develop the fine tuned skills which are hopefully heard from any well trained Theremin Expressionist!

With that logic what is the Explanation of this?

Why would maybe a thousand people in our small theremin community feel the need to dump their EtherWave Standards, the finest theremin on the market at the time and purchase the EtherWave Pro?

My guess they had "hoped" for better sound and playability, no it must have been that artistic design that I actually like!

I do agree a well trained Thereminist can make any theremin sounding device seem interesting but not all devices are going to sound good.

Now I may be wrong on my concepts because my own hearing is challenged and this is why I make no attempt at playing tunes. I am always fearful of negative artifacts being heard in my own sound bytes that I can’t hear. It is the feedback, pos or neg, I get from all of you once in a while that helps me out.

I use to stare at an oscilloscope for hours trying to see Clara’s voice in 2D, my final conclusion on this subject is there is an illusion created by the expression of the well trained performer which would validate Thierry's thoughts, but there is also something more which our instruments can't measure!

Just to stir things a little more if I haven’t, Clara’s own theremin instrument does not sound today as it did originally and this is not because she is not playing it!

Her instrument has had uninvited modifications mostly caused from the deterioration of the passing of time, this was inevitable, with sadness this is a natural gesture to end an era.


Christopher